Something that I definitely did away with was getting a fresh towel out after every shower.  I quit this practice as soon as I had to pay to do my own laundry.  I now use a towel for a week.

I will wear the same outfit out of the house every day for a week or two as I am only wearing it for an hour or two.  I wear my work outfits for 4 wearings each before washing.  I'm part-time and only work 4-6 hours at a time.    My clothes look brand new and they are two years old.  Something that also helps is not putting work clothes through the dryer.  This ruins clothes.  

I've been wearing a product called Comfy Shirts for years. It's like a abbreviated tshirt. They save a lot in washing.

I've been used to doing this as for a long time I did not have laundry facilities of my own.  Obviously dirty laundry goes in the pile first thing.  However I often change to go out from my grubbies and rehang.  My best clothes are not laundry clothes so this saves dry cleaning also.  Anything worn while sweating goes for cleaning anyway but I don't generally sweat (a blessing).  Thinking of it all round; laundry soap costs, water costs, the clothes cost, wear and tear on machines cost and electricity costs.  This fits my budget just fine and I have been known to be rather torqued because a clean dry cleaned outfit got dirty first time out. lol  Be sure to do the smell test after the clothing has sat awhile as at first you will only smell your normal scent.  Leave it a while and go back later to check befor you decide it should be laundeed or dry cleaned.  

I have only recently learned to fully embrace this trick. I'm about as 'green' as one can get, have always worn slacks to work (desk jockey) for about 3 days before laundering. The shirts always got tossed into the hamper every day. However, with an ever-tightening budget, I figured it only made sense to reduce/reuse/recycle my wardrobe, too. My trick is to rotate my shirts (replace on the right and remove from the left) and have them sorted (stripes, solids, plaids, etc.). I reasoned that if I'm wearing a tee shirt, the outer shirt just doesn't get dirty as easily. My lounging clothes at home, as with the writer, are fatigued and pretty darn ugly. But they serve the purpose and if I spill paint on them or whatever...who cares? They never go outside the building with me unless I'm depositing some recycling and going right back in. Applause-applause to everybody who does this too. I cut my weekly laundry by at least a third from not washing every shirt every time it's worn. I think DRYERS are clothes' worst enemy. All my shirts are hang-dried unless possibly if they're black b/c the dryer does a good job of removing the lint. (Yes, I can also by lazy). ;)

In reading all these comments, I notice that almost all are from people who rewear things more than once or twice.  Kinda one-sided, until you realize that those who wash everything after the first wearing are too busy doing laundry to even have time to read this!  Hope they get the message somehow.  Maybe the bad economy and a forced change from "consumerism" will do it.

Yea man i wear pants for like 2 weeks in a row without a wash. And shirts sometimes up to 4 or 5 days. I only shower every two days at most. It's all good.

Thank you for exposing this common practice. My wife washes all her clouthes after one wearing even if it is one hour to run out to the grocery store. I can double wear clouthes and cut the laundry in half. She still complains about the mountain of laundry even when the clouthes basket is 90% of her garments.

I know you can't talk about this subject with coworkers, but it's so nice to be able to share with this like-minded group.  I used to keep track of my closet by always hanging clean clothes right side out and the gently worn things inside out.  Now I have an extra couple feet of closet (I installed one with two levels) and I have a section for the things that have already been worn but can be worn again before washing.

And just like many others here I only use the dryer for a few minutes for most things and then hang them in the closet in the extra bedroom to dry.  I don't have an outside clothes line, but if I did the towels and sheets would air dry too.  As it is, I have to put those in the dryer.

Another thing that helps is showering at night, before bed, I think Donna mentioned that.  It keeps the sheets a little cleaner.  Works great if you're single, not so much if your spouse does not practice the same bathing schedule.

Just one note about what you sleep in,  I used to wear my sleep tshirts for a week or so but you know midlife and occasional night sweats changed all that.  So I get a new nightgown every couple of nights.

It's so great to hear that my system is not so unusual after all.

I am my grandmother's grandson. I never wear out my clothing but wash them to death.  I also iron my blue jeans for what it is worth - I hate the rumpled look. BUT, my clothing is often worn more than once and that also includes exercise clothing. I have my own gym at home so I do not have to inflict me on others. At  62  I still look good in spandex and wish the legs of shorts were shorter and I do like color.  The human male tends to be a drab animal sorry to say.

In public the bottom line is no smell, no spots, no wrinkles, and the clothing fits my body for the activity involved. It can't get any simpler.

i lived in a place where we hauled water so you conserved when you could

kids re wore after school clothes as much as possible to save washing when still wearable

yup i was clean but you save when you can

i am careful with what i wash too but the color absorbing sheets help if you put something in you think may fade

saves my butt

i try to wash only full loads too